


En Fumée

by Fredou



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Friendship, Lovers may be too strong a word tbh, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-28 04:17:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11410041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fredou/pseuds/Fredou
Summary: Between May and July, Auston stays in Arizona and even goes to Mexico to visit his family. Between May and July, Mitch sends him approximately a thousand snaps, five hundred texts and calls him every other day. He also squats Auston's apartment.





	En Fumée

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I wrote this because of a song from a 2000s’ French girl band called L5. They have a song about their bf being away and they basically threaten him to destroy every possession he owns if he doesn’t come back quickly.
> 
> It evolved into something else because I'm not good at following plot lines. 
> 
> Also my head canon is that Auston speaks Spanish but be aware that I’m French and that I don’t actually speak Spanish that well.
> 
> This fic is pretty much non-eventful tbh. 
> 
> This is pure fiction. This is not real at all. 
> 
> You do NOT have my permission to share this on Twitter or Instagram with anyone related to hockey, fans included.

_When are you back_ , Mitch sends him literally the day after he arrives in Arizona. His mom is cooking for the family gathering happening in less than two hours and Auston was recruited to help since his sisters are at school and his dad was sent to buy flowers. 

 _Never_ , he texts back discretely so his mom doesn't see him on his phone again while she's talking to him. Well, she's rambling about the tomato sauce she's making but Auston knows he has to hum and nod otherwise she'll be on his case again about not paying attention to her. 

He cuts the carrots and the onion like his mom says, his eyes watering despite his best efforts to blink a lot and stay the farthest away from the cutting board, and hands them over. He starts washing the pile of dishes without prompting which earns him a smile and a "gracias querido". Auston smiles. He likes being a mama's boy (but only in private where no one can see how uncool he can be). 

He forgets about Mitch when everyone arrives and starts congratulating him on his season, saying stuff like "it's great what you did", "it's only your first year, you have time", "maybe next year". He knows, and he heard it before but he says "for sure, you're right", smiling at everyone and not forgetting to be grateful and humble. 

* 

Auston hasn't checked his phone for a few hours, distracted by his family and the food, and then cleaning up with Alexandria, talking about her assignments and her friends (he has only a vague idea about who Katie, Adrian or Morgan-the-girl are but he still nods and gives his opinion when asked) . When he goes to bed he makes a detour by the kitchen where he thinks his phone is. It's not. He rolls his eyes at himself, he always miss places his phone and is, irritably, always looking for it. 

“¿Mama, sabes donde esta mi teléfono?” he calls in the direction of the living room.  
   
“It's on the bench in the hallway,” Breyana yells.

“Thanks!” 

Once he has it, he sees he has three texts and a snap from Mitch. He goes to bed with a smile.

_Can't believe your abandoning meeee_

and 

 _I'm so bored!!_  are the first two texts. The third text was sent just a half hour ago and it says _well if you're ignoring me I have no choice but to use your play station._  

Auston snorts and as he opens the snap he’s not surprised to see his TV with a game of NHL12 on. 

 _I gave you a key so you could water my plants not so you could play with my stuff_ , he texts. 

It’s not true, because there is someone he pays to actually have his things in order, including his plants. He gave Mitch a key for emergencies. In case he’d forget his and wouldn’t be locked outside his place, mainly. 

Mitch face times him immediately and Auston answers, even though he's pretty tired and already in bed. 

“I can't see you,” Mitch whines. 

“I was about to go to sleep, hold on”. Auston fumbles a little in the dark until he finds the switch of his bedside table lamp. “There, you can see me now,” he says. 

“Why are you already in bed?” Mitch asks. “Isn't it like 11 there?” 

“Precisely,” Auston says without mentioning how tiring heavy socializing was. “The real question is why are you at my place?” 

Auston can't really see past Mitch's head but he recognizes the sofa. Mitch looks embarrassed for half a second but then he states, as if it explains anything, “I was bored.”

Auston rolls his eyes exaggeratedly. 

“You have a TV too, man.” 

“Yours is better,” Mitch says. Auston knows it's a lie because they bought the same but doesn't say anything. He doesn't mind that Mitch is in his apartment and he's tired, he's just content to lay there and talk to his friend. “Alright,” he says. “I'm gonna sleep now”. His eyes are closing on their own. 

“Okay,” Mitch says softly, “good night”.  
   
Auston doesn't know if he answers but he mumbles something and falls asleep pretty much instantly once he hangs up. The light stays on all night. 

*

The week that follows is pretty relaxing for Auston. His dad forces him to take it easy, with no work out whatsoever, and he gladly enjoys it while it lasts. He spends most of his days by the pool, although when it's too hot he retreats inside and hangs with his mom a lot. They decide to go visit her side of the family in June and she gets excited about it. She asks him to help her order baby clothes on the Internet for his cousin's daughter. 

He met her once, six months ago and she was already seven-month-old. He feels a little bad about it. Guilty. He's never been hugely close to his cousin, with him living in Mexico City, but regardless he still feels off, sometimes, about missing so many important family stuff and he hopes he won't miss too much of his sisters' lives. He tried to convince Breyana to apply for a college in Toronto but she laughed at his face. 

“Never in a million years,” she said. “It's too damn cold and I don't know anyone there.”

She must have seen something about how he felt about that on his face because she added “I mean except from you, dummy, but it's not like I'd see you that often anyway. And you'd get tired of me. I know you don't want me to live with you,” she said teasingly. “And I don't wanna know how you live that rich and famous life.”

She was right of course. Auston does not want his baby sister (she will be his baby sister until the day he dies, nevermind that she's old enough to drive now) to see what he can get up to. 

Mitch still asks him every other day when he gets back. Auston is more amused than annoyed by it. He doesn't really understand why Mitch is so... needy all of sudden, and Auston knows he has loads of friends living in the GTA that he could hang out with. But he has to admit it's nice to feel wanted like that, although Auston doesn't bother answering half the time. 

*

Alexandria takes him to a nice (expensive) store where apparently they make cool clothes locally. Auston is skeptical about that being true but Alex insists it's the real deal and that it's important to her for him to at least try some of their stuff. 

It becomes obvious quickly that it's important to her because she knows the guy working there and that she has a crush on him. Auston resists the urge to roll his eyes, barely. He will definitely tease her on the way back though. As her sister talks to the guy Auston wanders and observes the clothes. Some of it is quite nice and he takes a few things to try on. His mom told him she was tired of him wearing dark colors so he picks up a pink-ish tee shirt. He takes a pic to send to Mitch. 

_What do you think?_

Mitch sends back a selfie too, of him smiling and giving the camera a thumbs-up with a line of fire emoji. Auston smiles down at his phone when he notices that Mitch is at his place again. 

 _Are you playing NHL12 again???,_ he sends. 

 _.... No_ , Mitch sends back. 

Auston knows Mitch is not telling the truth and dials him without thinking.

“Have you been staying at my apartment for the past week?”

“Umh... yeah?” Mitch says hesitantly. “I mean I definitely went back to my place a few times but I just... Like It here?”

His voice suggests he's asking Auston a question, like he doesn't know why he's been squatting but Auston does. 

“Dude,” Auston says. He doesn't actually know what to say to that. He really doesn't mind that Mitch is using his place though so in the end he just says, “Well I hope my plants are watered at least.” 

Mitch laughs, which pleases Auston since he was indeed trying to be funny. 

* 

 _So don't be mad_ , he receives a few days later. 

Auston was taking a picture when the notification came up. He's golfing with his dad which always puts him in a good mood. Now he furrows his brows, dreading what’s to come and already expecting the worst.

 _What did you do?_ he sends back immediately. 

His dad is taking his time to play so he can focus on his phone. He sees the three dots appearing as he waits for Mitch's answer.  

_I'm so sorry Matts! I swear I didn't do it on purpose and I will buy you a new one. I kinda.... im really sorry. I kinda burnt your Phoenix jersey :((((_

_I feel soooo bad I'm so sorry plz forgive me_

Auston is taken aback but annoyance quickly flares up. That jersey is his favorite and he left it in Toronto because it reminds him of home, which he doesn't need at home. He thought it'd be safe. He didn't even think it wouldn't be. 

_Wtf dude?? Why?! How did you do that??!_

It's Auston's turn to play now so he puts his phone in his pocket and tries to concentrate on the game. He didn't see his dad's play but he's fairly certain it was a good shot. He tries his best to stay calm but there's fury inside his belly. It's stupid, but honestly what the hell. 

In the end his shot is way too aggressive and the ball doesn't land where it should. His dad regards him with a non-impressed look but must see it’s not the time to tease him because he doesn't comment, only ask with a worried expression, “You okay Papi? You look angry.”

“Just. Mitch is annoying”, he settles on, knowing he shouldn't get his dad involved. Fuck but his dad gave him that jersey. As they're walking toward the balls, he fetches his phone back from his pocket. Mitch’s explanation is waiting for him to read.

_I was wearing it and then I tried to use that torch thing to make that french dessert I like???_

_Crème brûlée????_

_And anyway idk how it happened but basically I burnt the edge of the sleeve_

_It's not too burnt!!_

_Like I pretty much immediately put my hand and arm in cold water and like it's just a little burnt_

_You can barely see it I swear!_

There's a picture attached to the last text and it's true that it's not too bad. You can hardly see anything. All you can see in that picture, really, is the angry red patch of Mitch's skin on his wrist and hand. 

 _Dude your hand_ is all Auston can text. His father demands his attention at that moment so he slips his phone in his pocket again. 

Golf gets his mind off things for a little while and now that he's not angry at Mitch for the jersey anymore he can actually concentrate on beating his Dad. Mitch sends another text that says _it's fine don't worry_ and Auston does just that. 

After golfing for a few more hours, they go home and have dinner with Auston's mom and sister. They talk about nothing of importance and reminisce memories for the nth time. It's past 11 when Alexandria says she has to wake up early. Once they've cleaned up the kitchen Auston goes to bed. He's on the way to sleeping when it occurs to him that Mitch wearing his jersey while he's staying at his house is not really normal. Slumber hits him pretty hard though, and the thought escapes him. 

*

“Hi!” Mitch says when Auston picks up. He’s not doing anything special. He went to the gym in the morning and he’s a little bored, to be honest, scrolling Instagram up and down, watching people’s stories, commenting on pictures posted by his teammates. He’ll go take a few laps in the pool in a few hours, when the sun is lower.

“Hi,” Auston says, a smile tugging at his lips.

Since the jersey incident, Mitch has been extra nice and apologized again at least three times. He calls Auston once a day now, still texting and snapchatting him, just to talk for a few minutes.

“So I used your car the other day, and I have to admit, I uh – I may have broken your rear view mirror,” Mitch says sheepishly.

Auston bursts out laughing. So much that he drops the phone on the couch and has tears in his eyes. It’s not funny at all but it’s so not unexpected that it’s almost comically predictable. Of course Mitch uses his car, of course he broke it.

“Auston,” Mitch is saying when he presses the phone back to his ear. “Are you there? Hello?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” Auston answers. “Which one?”

“Which one what?”

“Which mirror,” Auston specify.

“The right one,” Mitch says. “I came too close to another car that what parked on the road and its mirror and your car’s broke at the same time.”

Auston laughs again.

“Did you wait for the other driver to come back or did you leave?,” Auston asks faux suspicious.

“Auston!” Mitch cries. “I did not leave! Well I mean, I did, but I also like wrote a note and stuck it on their windshield.”

“What did you write?” Auston says.

“Like I wrote my number and ask them to call me so I could pay for damage,” he says, embarrassed again.

“And?”

“… I promised them tickets for the season opener too,” Mitch admits.

Auston laughs again and he has to take a second to catch his breath. He didn’t drop the phone that time though, so he can hear Mitch indignantly protesting at being mocked.

“Oh Mitch, you’re one of the kind,” Auston says fondly.

“Thank you,” Mitch says pointedly. “Anyway, I was just calling to tell you I had it fixed, your mirror I mean, so you’re welcome.”

“It was your fault!” Auston says.

“Still!” Mitch says. “I could have pretended I didn’t know anything about it and you would have blamed yourself or like, the concierge.”

“Right,” Auston says with a smile.

“Alright,” Mitch says softly. “Well I gotta go, I promised Dylan we’d play video games.”

“Wait!” Auston says. “Did they call back? The owner of the car?”

“Yeah… they were very umh – happy I broke their car actually. We took a selfie and I signed their jersey.”

Auston snorts. “Was it your jersey?”

“… It was Mo’s,” Mitch says reluctantly.

Auston laughs again and Mitch hangs up.

*

Mitch sends him selfies of his "ootd" now. Auston does not know why. It's silly and most of the time he’s pretty sure Mitch doesn’t actually go out wearing what he’s wearing in the pics. For one thing, he associates things that do not go together, and maybe his fashion sense is not that developed, but Auston is fairly sure even Mitch wouldn’t actually wear flip-flops with a suits jacket and jorts. 

Auston notices that there is always something of his in the picture. Usually a hat, sometimes a tee shirt that’s too loose on Mitch’s shoulders, once a pair of skinny jeans — well they’re supposed to be skinny but they were not on Mitch. 

Most of the time Mitch is at his place. He takes his pictures on the mirror in Auston’s bedroom. On the last snap, Auston could see his unmade bed. 

Auston is… perplexed. A little confused. 

By Mitch but also by his own reaction. 

He has never had any problem sharing his things and his space. He has siblings and cousins. He doesn’t mind at all that Mitch is using his stuff and pretty much living in his flat. 

He just knows it’s not a buddy thing to do. 

Zach visits just before Auston’s family is set to go to Mexico for a week, at the beginning of June. Auston’s really happy to see him and they talk a lot, play video games and enjoy the pool. Zach says he bets Auston’s going to win the Calder. Auston, as humble as he is, knows he’s going to win the Calder too. He truly thinks Zach had a great season and he’s really proud of him, and Laine had a good season too, but he knows the NHL and he knows they’re going to give the Calder to him. 

Zach is half in love with half the girls he follows on Instagram and they talk about them, also. Auston had never really felt in love with anyone in his life but Zach is the exact opposite. He falls in love with everyone, and usually everyone loves him too. Although he rarely dates people for real. 

“There are too many women in this world, Matts,” he says floating on a giant pink flamingo, “how am I supposed to choose and commit to only one?”

Auston doesn’t know, so he says, “I guess you shouldn’t.”

“Exactly.”

Auston tries to push him from his floating doughnut but no luck. They end up playing some kind of volley ball game in the pool. Breyana joins them after her homework is done and they play a game of monkey in the middle. Breyana loses a lot and gives up after a while, a little furious at them for not letting her win more. 

At dinner Zach chats with Alex and their parents about American politics and Auston, who is not interested in that at all, focuses on making his little sister smile so she doesn’t brood too much. 

Zach sleeps in his bed. The first time he came over they were 15 and still a little too skinny. His mom said she could make the bed in the spare room but she had looked exhausted and Auston had said he was fine with sharing his bed. Zach had shrugged and now they share. It’s literally a no brainer at this point. 

Auston has been hesitating to talk about Mitch with Zach all day. Now that they’re both lying down, at arm length of each other, the lights turned off, he feels like he can finally say something, whisper it in the dark. 

“So, umh,” he starts. “I think Mitch likes me.”

Zach snorts and turns towards him. 

“Well duh,” he says. “You guys are friends.” 

Auston huffs.

“Don’t be dense, Zach,” he says, “I mean he likes me likes me.”

“Oh!” Zach says surprised. 

There’s a little silence, not uncomfortable but Auston would very much like his friend to say something because he doesn’t know what to say or what to think about any of this. 

“I mean, are you sure?” Zach asks. 

Is Auston sure? Not really, no. But then again who does what Mitch is doing? 

Auston tries to explain how Mitch is basically squatting his place, using his stuff, wearing his clothes, sleeping in his bed. Which, admittedly, Zach is also sleeping in his bed but that’s different! Zach laughs a little but in the end he says, “Well, if he likes you I guess you need to tell him you don’t like him that way.”

Auston is silent for a while because that’s the thing, right? He should probably not let Mitch get his hopes too high or something. Better to ripe off the bandage so he can move on. 

“… unless you do like him that way?” 

Zach’s voice is hilariously high. Auston laughs nervously. Zach laughs too, nervously as well. 

“Gosh, I don’t know what I want,” Auston says ultimately.  

He can honestly say he’s very fond of Mitch, and the first time he saw him in person he had to force himself not to stare too much because Mitch is cute. Then Mitch opened his mouth to make a dumb joke and it relaxed Auston instantly. Since then Mitch has been talking non-stop to Auston, and Auston has been laughing.

Auston is pretty much the opposite of a talker, not really mute but he prefers to listen to (or tune out) people, observe and think. His jokes are not that funny but he knows what to say to people he knows to make them laugh. 

Zach is still quiet next to him, still watching him sleepily. 

“I think… I think maybe I like him too. But I don’t really want to date him because the team should come first, yeah?”

Zach hums. 

“Well. I don’t think— You and Mitch can date and it wouldn’t affect the team if you don’t want to tell them. And if you’re afraid you might break up and fuck up chemistry or something, well it’s probably too late for that. ‘Cause if he does like you and you say no, he’s gonna be hurt for a while, probably.”

Auston mulls this over. “Yeah. I don’t know. We’ll see I guess.”

“When’re you seeing him next?”

“I get back in Toronto first week of July.”

“Well then you’ve time to decide whatcha wanna do,” Zach mumbles. 

“You’re right. Thanks man”, Auston says, taking pity on his friend and letting him sleep.

Auston turns around and immediately hears Zach’s heavy breathing that means he’s already asleep. What a great guy, Auston thinks, falling asleep as well. 

* 

The week in Mexico seems to fly by. If he FaceTimes Mitch a lot it’s because he’s not often in this beautiful country and Mitch has never step foot there either so he figures they can share his excitement of discovering the sights. Not that Auston shows he’s excited, obviously. Mitch doesn't call him on it so it’s as if. 

He’s with his grand-parents, who insisted on Auston coming to see their church, when Mitch FaceTimes him. Mitch requires to speak to them as well. Auston translates most of what his grand-parents say to Mitch and Mitch tries to speak Spanish. It’s hilarious. It’s also very cute and Auston hopes his smile is not too affectionate when Mitch says he wants to introduce himself to them. 

“Hola Auston’s abuelo! Mi llamo Mitchell y yo playo hockey con ello.”

He says ‘ello’ like he would say ‘hello’, minus the h, his Spanish is terrible but his grand-parents appreciate the efforts and even though he shouldn’t laugh at his friend for trying to speak a foreign language Auston laughs a good two minutes, repeating ‘playo’ like an idiot. 

Mitch smiles and feigns being offended. 

“You’re a terrible friend Matts. I’m trying my best to connect with your family and you laugh at me!” he sputters fake-indignant. 

Auston knows he’s not mad because he knows Mitch well enough to know he doesn’t care that people laugh at him, and also because he’s smiling and looking at Auston with fond eyes.

Now that he admitted to Zach and to himself that maybe Mitch likes him, he can’t seem to stop looking for clues and proofs that it’s true. Fond eyes definitely fit the category, and his heart stammers in his chest violently for a beat or two. 

“You are the worst,” Mitch goes on with a laugh in his voice, “look at your grand dad, he’s clearly confused. Tell him I’m trying to learn Spanish so I can speak to him and your grandma when they come to Toronto next time.”

Auston thinks, that’s another proof, right? 

“Come on Aus’,” Mitch whines because Auston needed a second and didn’t reply immediately. “I don’t want him to think I’m being rude by speaking only English while he’s in the room!”

“You’re not in the room,” Auston says automatically. 

Mitch rolls his eyes but before he starts to argue about semantics, Auston turns towards his grand-parents and explains what Mitch told him. They look very pleased and ask Auston to relate their own greetings. 

“They say they’re glad you’re my friend and that they look forward to meeting you,” Auston says with a smile. 

“Yeah,” Mitch says quietly. “Me too. I’m glad I’m your friend.”

They hold eyes contact for a bit too long, or at least a semblance of eyes contact since they’re FaceTiming on screen no bigger than their hands, and then Mitch says he’s gotta go meet his parents. They say goodbye and Auston puts his phone back in his pocket. He lets himself being stirred away from the church to another church that his grand-parents say is even more beautiful. They ask him if he’d like to go to mass on Sunday with them, and he says yes, happy to please. 

*

“Hey,” Mitch says when Auston answers the phone. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, I’m packing,”  Auston answers. He’s going to the NHL awards with his family and then he’s meant to go back to Toronto. All of his stuff are ready-ish. He had meant to go back in July but his parents agreed it didn’t make much sense to come back in Arizona for just a week. “I’m leaving tomorrow in the morning.”

The Awards were the following day and he had press to do in the meantime. 

“And then you’re coming home?” Mitch asks anxiously. 

“Yeah.” 

Mitch sighs, relieved. 

“Listen, I — I know I’ve been a little weird over the past month but I need to talk to you,” Mitch says. 

“Yeah? I — I think I know what you wanna say.”

“Really?”

“Well,” Auston says, sitting down on his bed. “I’m not like 100% sure but I kinda figured it out.”

“Oh,” Mitch says quietly. “What do you think about it?” 

“I don’t -- we should talk about it in person, right?”

There’s silence at the other hand of the phone and Auston tries to read Mitch’s breathing, tries to picture Mitch, most likely at Auston’s house, probably in his own bedroom and sat on his bed too. 

“Right,” Mitch says. “I’ll let you go.”

Auston doesn’t have time to reply before Mitch hangs up. Shit. He wants to call back immediately because Mitch’s voice broke and he wants to reassure him or something. He still hasn’t made a decision though, and Mitch wouldn’t want to talk to him if he’s shaky. 

In the end Auston sends a heart emoji, a plane and a house. He’s not too sure if Mitch will get the message. He doesn’t even know what the message is. 

*

It’s radio silence until the Awards. Mitch doesn’t text him, doesn’t send him snaps after snaps. He doesn’t call, doesn’t FaceTime. 

He receives the Calder, as everyone expected. He thanks everyone from his family to the Leafs organization. He gets out of here and has to do some press, obviously. 

“What did you say up there?,” a journalist asks. “In Spanish, I mean.”

The guy is white, he’s wearing a beige suit with a white shirt. He looks like he’s suffering from the heat, red faced and sweaty. 

“You know, just thank you to my family,” Auston says. “Obviously they’re a big part of my success and I wanted to thank them. I’m half Mexican, you know.” 

He adds that last beat as an afterthought, like they don’t already know. He gets a few laughs. 

Afterwards Auston can escape with his family and after being smothered by his mom with hugs and kisses, after they pose for fifteen minutes in various combinations with his trophy, they finally leave the craziness and go to a restaurant in a hipster area of Vegas, where it’s unlikely they’ll meet anyone related to hockey. 

On the way, he checks his phone and he got what seems like a thousand texts. He answers to a few of them but doesn’t know what to say to Mitch, with whom he hasn’t talked in two days, which is probably a record. 

Mitch sent a line of fire emojis, obviously, and then a text that says _im so proud of you Aus, congrats <3_ 

Auston smiles dumbly at his phone. The texts are not that original but they mean so much because they’re from Mitch, and Auston really likes him. 

_Thanks! I’ll see you tomorrow <3_

He hesitated to add the heart for a good ten minutes. He feels his face because he’s smiling too much. He’s happy and he wishes Mitch were here to celebrate with him. 

* 

Flying to Toronto is long and tiring. By the time he lands he’s sleepy even though it’s only 4pm, he keeps yawning unattractively and he feels a headache coming. He drank at least a litter of water in the plane and was too lazy to use the bathroom so now he has to pee at the airport. He considers waiting to be home but it’s at least one more hour before he gets there, plus he knows Mitch will be at his apartment and he doesn’t really want to start their conversation by saying, "Sorry I need to pee". 

The taxi driver is friendly and doesn’t recognize him. He asks a few questions and then he takes a phone call, speaking a language Auston doesn’t know for the rest of the drive. 

Auston tries to imagine what he’s going to say to Mitch. He still doesn’t think it’s a good idea for them to date and he’s certainly not going to have benefits with a teammate. He keeps scrolling up on their conversation but he regrets not having screen-shot more of Mitch’s snaps. He did save a few, those in which his outfits were so ridiculous that he just had to, for the sake of chirping. One, he has to admit, was not to mock Mitch with. It’s a picture of Mitch on Auston’s couch, he looks sleepy and he’s wearing one of Auston’s sweater, which is too large for Mitch. His hair is flat on one side and his eyes are dropping. He looks cute as hell. 

The journey from the airport has never felt so long. He keeps smiling and despite the dreading conversation, he’s really excited to see Mitch. 

When Auston opens the door he almost expects to be tackled by Mitch, or at least to receive a hug, or a welcome home banner or something. He almost expects Mitch to drop a glass or a plate in his excitement to see Auston. But when Auston calls Mitch’s name, no one answers. There’s no one home. Mitch isn’t here. 

Auston is disappointed. He feels ridiculous for having hoped Mitch would be there.  

He looks around and notices a few different things, stuff here and there that were moved, used or some stuff that simply aren’t his. His sheets were changed and his fridge is full. 

Auston sits on his sofa and feels very alone. He doesn’t feel lonely often, what with being part of a big family and part of a hockey team, and he likes to be alone, that’s why he didn’t want to live with one of the guys. 

He misses Mitch though, and it sucks that he’s not here. 

_hey. im home, where are you?_

The answer comes almost instantly, _i went back to my place._

_why_

_i didn’t think you'd want me to be there_

Auston stares at his screen for a minute, unsure. 

_can you come over?_

He starts to unpack as he waits for Mitch’s answer. 

He has time to empty one of his two suitcases before his phone vibrates on his bed table. 

_okay. ill be there in 10_

Auston stops unpacking and paces a little. He goes to the bathroom and tries to fix his hair, but not so much that he looks like he’s put an effort into it. There’s a toothbrush and hair products that are not his sitting on the edge of the sink. 

No more than five minutes later he hears a key in the lock and his feet take him to the front door. 

“Hi,” he says. 

He doesn’t know why but his throat feels a little too tight and he doesn’t dare looking at Mitch, really. He’s looking at the floor and he hears Mitch closing the door, taking a few steps towards him. 

“Hey,” Mitch says finally. “I um— hope you had a good flight.”

Auston nods. “Yeah it was fine.”

He’s never felt so unsure about anything before in his life. He’s not really unpracticed in love, or sex, or rejecting people. He doesn’t really know why it’s so hard to look at Mitch but he needs to do it. He looks up and Mitch is staring at him, blue eyes in full force, shining a little and Auston realizes they’re wet because Mitch is trying not to cry. 

“So um— I know you know how I feel about you,” Mitch almost murmurs. “And I’m like, sorry, I guess, ‘cause it’s inconvenient.” He snorts a little, self-deprecating. “I mean, I know I made things weird, what with me living at your place and all but — 

“It’s not weird,” Auston cuts in. 

Mitch blinks at him, swallows hard. 

“Right so,” he says. “It’s just a little annoying but I’ll get over it soon, I promise.”

It’s Auston’s turn to stare while Mitch is looking at the floor. His heart is beating way too fast and he knows now, that he wants to be with Mitch. 

“I think you shouldn’t.”

Mitch’s head snaps up. 

“What?” he asks dumbly. 

“I just um— if— you shouldn’t get over it. You should ask me out,” he says with a tilt of his head, a grin on his face and a laugh in his throat, confidence restored. 

“Are you serious?” Mitch blurts out. 

Auston laughs. “Yeah.”

“I um— this is not how I expected things to go.” Mitch starts to smile and it’s such a sight to see him happy, his whole face lighting up. “Just FYI, if I have teary eyes it’s because I cut onions just before coming here,” he says, rubbing his hands over his eyes.

Auston laughs again, more frankly, and grabs Mitch’s tee shirt when Mitch is at arm length. He didn’t even realize he was moving. 

“Are you gonna ask me out or should I do it?” he teases.

“No I’ll do it,” Mitch says, his voice low and giddy. “Auston Matthews,” he starts and then adds very quickly under his breath, “hit ‘em with the 4 like Auston Matthews”, at which Auston laughs again, throwing his head back. Mitch looks pleased and puts his hand on his neck, caresses his jaw with his thumb. 

“Will you go on a date with me?” Mitch finally says. 

Auston smiles and turns his head towards Mitch’s hand. His mouth on Mitch’s palm, hiding his smile, he nods. 

“Yeah,” he says. 

Mitch goes on his toes to be at eyes level and kisses him. It’s not unexpected. It’s soft and slow. Auston really likes it. 

Separating, Mitch says very seriously, “By the way I only want to date you so I can live here”.

Auston snorts and shakes his head. 

“Of course, I should’ve known.” 

“You should have, yes,” Mitch says with a smile. Auston kisses him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this a little!
> 
> Tell me if I made mistakes as English and Spanish are not my first languages. I mean obviously Mitch's bit in Spanish is purposely wrong but you know. 
> 
> Tell me also if I need to add a tag or something. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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